The Other Guardian
by kweenofalldreams13
Summary: The Doctor's memory has been wracked with the disappearances of Amy, Rory and River when he wakes up from a fifty-year sleep.  But the man who has been watching him and his blue box is back, wandering aimlessly through time with his new Doctor.


**Author's Note:** So here I am deciding to come up with yet another new story to hinder all the other ones that I've been avoiding for months and months on end. But this idea came to me today and it seemed pretty cool, so I think I'll TRY to build off it. In the meantime, I think I may post a few Harry Potter chapters that have been lurking in the vault for a while now. But we'll see how this one goes, too. If you have any ideas for me, let me know. Also, I don't own anything really but the idea, I suppose. Enjoy if you dare.

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><p>One<p>

The Doctor's eyes opened slowly, the sleep beneath them slowly fading away. The interior of a thick forest began to materialise before him, and he pushed himself up onto his elbows, forgetting that he'd fallen asleep–and it had seemed such a long time ago that he had. He looked about him for some sort of civilization, to indicate where exactly he was. The Gamma Forests, perhaps? The river wasn't nearby. Earth, then? You couldn't know for sure. Earth had so many different forests, those silly little humans.

The TARDIS stood triumphantly in the middle of the field he'd awoken in. The Doctor spotted it almost straightaway, but at first, he caught no notice of the long figure slumped against it with a long trenchcoat. He stretched his arms, snapped his suspenders freshly, and rumpled his hair. Well, he hadn't regenerated. The hair was still long and mad and slightly girlish. Just fallen asleep, he'd supposed. When was he? And where were the Ponds?

It started to come back to him in slight flashes, Amy's hand squeezing tight over Rory's, her eyes looking more helpless and lost as they fell into the void, trapped in between dimensions, much like Rory's experience in Rome. Except they were moving, constantly, like the Doctor himself only they had absolutely no control over it. Then again, the TARDIS did what she wanted to sometimes anyway, the clever old girl. Speaking of, where was River Song–Melody Pond–whoever and whatever she was?

And then it came back again, how River had flashed into disappearance once again, especially when he'd just learned to trust her. Again. What on Gallifrey was wrong with her? Why had she gone to jail and, more importantly, who was that good man she had killed? The answer, rather, a very strong prediction, seemed to come to him, though in a sector of his mind that he preferred to keep untouched. River Song. It made so much sense that she was Amy's daughter, she'd gotten her fire from her mother.

The Doctor's pondering face did not go unnoticed, however, by the figure leaned against the police box. Its face gave a grandiose smirk, one that was so well-practised and perfectly contoured to its shape that it seemed to be plastered there for good.

"You're the new Doctor," said the stranger aloud, scratching his neck while he watched the Doctor regain his footing. "Nice to see you again, Doctor." The Doctor tread carefully toward the TARDIS, and Captain Jack Harkness stepped out of its shadows. The Doctor surveyed Jack for a long moment with a slight scowl on his face, before it warped into a large grin and he grabbed Jack into a hug.

"Old Jacky-boy," he sang out happily, as the Doctor does. "You haven't changed a bit, have you?" Jack gave the Doctor a wistful once-over before leaving his hand clapped on his shoulder.

"I can't say the same for you, Doctor. But you have aged...very nicely," remarked Jack with that flirtatious tone of his, his eyes trailing down slightly below the Doctor's belt. "So where's Martha? Or Rose, or whoever you were traveling with this time?" The Doctor's face turned dark, and Jack's eyes returned up to meet it.

"The void," answered the Doctor shortly, tightening his jacket about him and fiddling with his bow tie. Jack casually reached over to straighten it.

"You wear a bow tie now." It wasn't a question, but it brought about the same result as always.

"Yeah, I wear a bow tie now. Bow ties are cool," he retorted, standing just a little taller. He shook himself out of his smugness, looking back toward the door of the TARDIS. "But the fact of the matter is, I need to get my friends back. My _other_ friends," he added to the pouty look on Jack's face. "You're sort of a professional at these things, aren't you, Jack? Wandering aimlessly through time, no form of control or direction..." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"You're the same, Doctor. How else did you think you found me?"

"Speaking of which, how _did_ you get here? In the specific time and place that I was, Jack?"

"Oh, Doctor," sighed Jack, his hand wandering down to the Doctor's, "you've no idea how long I've been here, waiting for you just to wake up." A look of panic ran over the Doctor's face as he pushed Jack into the TARDIS, forsaking the hand that had met his.

"How long have I been asleep, Jack? _How long?_" Jack's eyes danced anxiously about the inside of the TARDIS, noting how the roots it had taken for the last Doctor had vanished, and it had become more technologically-driven. Already was he noticing larger differences between this Doctor and his second, and not only in the physical aspects. This Doctor was softer-spoken, though just as passionate, but he did indeed miss his second Doctor's wonderful eyebrows.

"Right under fifty years."


End file.
